Thursday, March 21, 2013

Quick Project Journal Covers

In an effort to work on my free motion quilting skills, I decided to make some journal covers. This also met my goal of using up stuff in my studio without purchasing anything additional.

These journals have blank pages and measure about 8 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches. I used overdyed commercial print fabric for the first one and decided that I liked the fabric enough not to add other fabrics. The quilting was done with a walking foot and just followed a grid. Easy - peasy. Then I put some fabric selection and quilting into play on the other two journals. Sometimes I used the walking foot and sometimes I used the free motion foot. The center journal has a ripped strip of fabric in the center and the one on the right was pieced.

The journals came in a six pack so I carried on. The one on the left was from some leftover fabric I had for a magazine article that I wrote for Stitch in Style coming out this May. I added some buttons just to carry the design through the whole cover. The center journal was pieced and both free motion and walking foot quilted. The last one was a series of ripped strips stitched down with close rows of straight line quilting. The butterfly and flower were fused and raw edge appliqued. I was on a roll and I finished these journals in about a week's time. Darn that full time job is slowing me down!

This last journal has pages that are 8 1/2 by 11 inches. I used a decorative blade to cut up some black and white fabrics I had and fused them to the batting. I close lined stitched them in a grid and then fused and appliqued the flowers. The flowers are loosely based on some cosmos flowers I have seen in gardens.

Coming up in my next post will be the project that I worked on simultaneously but it took quite a bit longer to complete. Having the quick projects help me when I am blocked on a more complicated piece and it keeps me finishing projects which helps my motivation.

Claude, I love the journal covers. I must admit to being partial to the purple one in the first set of pictures. The one that looks like polka dots with the buttons in the second set of pictures and of course my favorite is the black and white one with the fused flowers. They are all wonderful. Thanks for sharing. Maggie

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About Me

As far back as I can remember, I have always loved fabric. Having a mother and grandmother who sewed very well I was taught early about a sewing machine. I went through the usual stages - doll clothes, my clothes, prom dress, home decor, baby items and clothes for my children. I dabbled in various other media and tried my hand at several crafts. I always returned to my sewing machine and fabric. And over time, I developed some pretty good skills.
Then one day a few years ago during graduate school I met a woman who introduced me to art quilting magazine and I was hooked. I poured over that magazine for hours. I realized that all the other things that I had tried over the years would still apply as I worked my way into art quilting. I now make mixed-media art quilts. I've decided that I will only use my machine and my valuable time to make what I cannot buy. Unique one-of-a-kind pieces that bring me a sense of peace and accomplishment. So, after a few years of experimenting, I launched this blog so I could meet some other fabric enthusiasts as I make my way through my random acts of piece.